if had to lose and you could chose: an arm or a leg

[nickel]

which one would you give up?

EDIT: and a prosthetic would replace it.

[blueindian]

easy...an arm.

pretty much you can learn to do just about anything with one arm that you can do with two, but you ain't gonna walk/run/bike/surf/ski etc with one leg.

[nickel]

ok, let me rephrase... you will get a prosthetic one after you lose it.
but a prosthetic one will still limit you somewhat pysically and maybe even cause a stigma to be associated with it.

[cheapie]

no contest.

[blueindian]

ok, let me rephrase... you will get a prosthetic one after you lose it.
but a prosthetic one will still limit you somewhat pysically and maybe even cause a stigma to be associated with it.

hell, i wouldn't even want a prosthetic arm, not if i lost it at the shoulder. it'd be useless. i'll just learn to use one arm thank you very much.

further, i could care less about a stigma. for the most part i don't give a rat's arse what people who don't know me think about me.

[dsuds]

Usually I don't let people know about this on forums, but since you asked... I am an amputee (right arm, above elbow). To me anyway, it seems it is easier without an arm. My artificial arm was very uncomfortable and I suspect that with an artificial leg, the added weight pressing down would be downright painful if the fit wasn't perfect.

Sometimes people ask me how I can do things with one arm and I have to reply that having 2 arms to me would be like having a third testicle. I haven't found anything that "normal" people do that I can't so NO FEELING SORRY FOR DAVE!!!

HOW'S THAT FOR JUMPING THE SHARK??

blueindian, You are so right about the prothesis being useless. For me it was like picking up a 2x4 from one end.

I just remembered when I was about 12, going to rehab, there was a pretty girl walked in and even I thought "She's too young to work here so what is SHE doing here". Turned out she was a leg amputee, but she walked with not even the slightest limp.

[Jenny]

I'm not athletic, so leg it is. Even if I was confined to a wheelchair. I'm short, so not like I'd be losing a lot of height if I had to sit all the time. But as much I love to play the piano, use the computer, stuff like that, losing an arm would kill me.

[DarkFury]

I too think that a leg would be less of a hinderance than an arm... Arms/hands do way more things than legs do (ever tried to eat with your feet?)

Besides, they make prosthetic legs that you can actually run on (depending on how far up the leg it is amputated) Are we talkin' below the knee... or up to the hip?

There is even an Olympic quality runner that runs on a specially designed prosthetic leg... and believe me, that guy was fast as hell for being on one leg.

[Burzhui]

if you lose an arm, rowing is out of the question... you'd just go in circles. Given a choice i'd fight my way out of the situation

[molecularfire]

If I had to chose, I'd rather lose an arm than a leg. The leg is too close to the one extremity that I would really hate to lose and well... let's just say that that is too close for comfort for me.

[dsuds]

if you lose an arm, rowing is out of the question... you'd just go in circles. Given a choice i'd fight my way out of the situation

OK, so I can't row, but I can still dance!

[bachviet]

Am arm

[DarkFury]

If I had to chose, I'd rather lose an arm than a leg. The leg is too close to the one extremity that I would really hate to lose and well... let's just say that that is too close for comfort for me.

Like said before... it just depends how far up the leg we are talkin'...

Arms help in that department too... (especially if you are ugly to begin with. )

[Booyamos]

Well we would have to specify where it was amputated, at the knee/elbow or what..

But Leg for me definately. Working in IT and with computers for my entire life i cannot function with just one hand/arm. They have prostetics for both but IMO the leg does less than my hand/arm does.

it is basically not having the other hand that would do it for me, just typing this and doing all the things i do everyday with computers and the like would be very difficult with one hand.

That being said, Nickel you sure pick some random topics sometimes

[Burzhui]

OK, so I can't row, but I can still dance!

but not rave... i'm not making fun btw i'm just really torn (bad pun) because i'm very athletic and vain too, so that would be disastrous for me...

[dsuds]

but not rave... i'm not making fun btw i'm just really torn (bad pun) because i'm very athletic and vain too, so that would be disastrous for me...

Uh, what's a rave? (j/k). I was very athletic in my youth as well (I sound soo old saying that). I was a distance runner on the track team and pretty much always placed. This was several years after I lost the arm. The vanity thing you get over as you get older (or married). At least I did.

I find it interesting that most of the posts on here would prefer(?) a leg gone than an arm. Maybe you all just want the better parking places at the mall.

[Burzhui]

Uh, what's a rave? (j/k). I was very athletic in my youth as well (I sound soo old saying that). I was a distance runner on the track team and pretty much always placed. This was several years after I lost the arm. The vanity thing you get over as you get older (or married). At least I did.

I find it interesting that most of the posts on here would prefer(?) a leg gone than an arm. Maybe you all just want the better parking places at the mall.

Yes they do, bunch of lazy bastards.

But exercise wise, i mean i lift weights, i have a nicely built upper body and to see it all go to hell would just kill me

[DarkFury]

I find it interesting that most of the posts on here would prefer(?) a leg gone than an arm. Maybe you all just want the better parking places at the mall.

Ummm... as it see it, more folks would rather have the arm gone than the leg (Nickel should've attached a POLL to this thread)

Arm
BlueIndian
Cheapie
Molecularfire
Bachviet

Leg
Jenny
DarkFury
Kacarp

Undecided
Nickel
Burzhui (but perhaps leg as he has to row and stuff )

Looks to me like you got 4 arm folks and 3 leg folks and 2 undecideds/"did not know" at this point.

BTW.... I had an uncle who was a parapelegic in a wheelchair who had the arm strength of a titan... Man he was strong. From the waist down you were his if he got ahold of you. He could grab onto you and lock you up and hold you there like nobody's business.

As far as driving goes... well... if you are missing an arm, then what do you do with your hands on the wheel when you want to signal a turn?

Yet and still, arms serve alot more basic functions than legs do in my opinion. Not that I want to get rid of my legs, but if one or the other had to go and I had no choice... well...

[Nija]

leg

[blueindian]

OK, so I can't row, but I can still dance!

you could be the lead man in a canoe.

[BrewMaster]

I'll take a leg off if it's below the knee. If we're talking above the elbow or knee, I'll give up my arm above the the elbow. And can I specify that it be my left arm? I love driving manual transmission cars and I just couldn't do that shifting with my left arm. That would get dangerous...

[ShawnLee]

I'll take my leg. I like the capability that both hands provide, and though I'm not ambidextrous, I can see doing more with my arm than my leg. Remember that Nike commercial where that woman is running around the track and they zoom out and she has prosthetic legs? It turned out that she was the aunt of one of my friends and after he explained that she had no problem mobility-wise, whenever this topic has come up, I've gone by leg.

[Grubbie]

my left arm, That way I can still walk and run and play soccer.

wait.... on second thought, maybe my leg, that way I can still play video games

[ray]

leg...so i can change my username to pegleg.

[Nija]

leg...so i can change my username to pegleg.

I like it, peggy

[KCEnder]

A leg, no doubt about The articifical limbs are so good that no one would notice. Heck you even see track stars run with only one real leg. I enjoy having both arms, easier to shoot my guns

[Nija]

I enjoy having both arms, easier to shoot my guns

I tend to call it masterbating, but the end result is the same

[DaFunkyUnit]

I tend to call it masterbating, but the end result is the same

you end up smelling like gunpowder and somebody could potentially get hurt?

[dsuds]

I'll take a leg off if it's below the knee. If we're talking above the elbow or knee, I'll give up my arm above the the elbow. And can I specify that it be my left arm? I love driving manual transmission cars and I just couldn't do that shifting with my left arm. That would get dangerous...

Yeah, shifting with one arm SUCKS. When I did it I was always reminded of "Toonses the driving cat" from SNL.

[nickel]

i have to say a leg. you guys know what i do for a living. i'd be out a job.